Sunday, June 06, 2010

Pat Hickey: Jan Schakowsky and Helen Thomas to Open a Turkish Bath?

Rep. Schakowsky and her guests were well aware of Thomas’s record of anti-Israel rhetoric, and were invited to distance themselves from her views. None did. Instead, Rep. Schakowsky declared proudly of Thomas: “She’s so awesome!”

Thomas’s comments are also problematic for Giannoulias, whose family foundation funds radical anti-Israel groups such as Electronic Intifada, which it honored at a benefit last year.n the days ahead, the media establishment will likely condemn Thomas’s explicit antisemitism, and distance itself from her views (with a few protestations, no doubt, about the supposed differences between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism). Yet for Democrats in Illinois and beyond, who have placed Thomas on a pedestal, Thomas is a problem that will not go away. Antisemitism is ascendant on the left. Voters are noticing.